Unusual People & Unusual Places

## Royalty

There's a movie called Coming To America with Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, and James Earl Jones. The plot is about Akeem, a King from a fictional African country. He was presented with his arranged bride-to-be. He felt like marriage should be a choice of love and not what both parents felt were best for their children. He, and his servant Semmi, left in search of someone he could marry based on love and not arrangement and moved to New York. His parents, the King and Queen of Zamunda, found out where he was and left for New York to bring him home. The King and Prince spoke with one another in regards to marriage and love, as well as the King dealing with the parents of lady his son fell in love with. The King let the people know they were beneath him and that his son shouldn't marry this woman because she wasn't royalty. In other words, he laid down the law- not just to his son, but to anyone around. He was of royal descent and everyone around was beneath him. Jesus wasn't only going to the temple, but Luke says he was teaching. Those in charge of the temple did not like it. Jesus was beneath them. They were so angry, they wanted to destroy Him. We don't know what sort of ideas they had in mind, but we can easily gather several ideas based on what we read in their various dealings with the Lord. The focus really isn't the details here, but they let us know they just wanted Him stopped. After all, this guy was just Joseph's son- a boy from Nazareth. Luke then adds in verse 48 that no matter what kind or how many ideas they brought to the table to get rid of Him, there was nothing they could do. They were left with their hands empty and mouths

silenced. The "big guys" in the temple were not only silenced by His teaching, those listening to His words were hanging on to everything He said.

## Self-Check

Sometimes, God's Word may come from unusual people and unusual places. They may not be the big man on campus, but as the Bible lays it out for us- we are one body in Christ and all have different functions, which means everyone plays an important role and no one is insignificant. Always keep your ears open to His word because you never know where it may come from, or who may speak it.

## The Pre-Cross Gospel